Music-sheet.



W/TNESSES PATENTED MAR. 5, 1907. J. B. WALKER & A. R. BOND.

MUSIC SHEET.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 18, 1906.

N V E N 7058 1.752111, .3 lifilicer ATTORNEYS resident of the city of New York, borough of BOND, a resident of Plainfield, in the county tion.

UNI ED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. WALKER, OF NEW YORK, N. AND ALEXANDER RUSSELL BOND,

OF PLAINFlELD, NEW JERSEY.

MUSIC-SHEET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 5, 1907.

Application filed August 18, 1906. Serial No. 331,200. n

To all whom it may concern: i 1

Be it known that we, JOHN B. WALKER, a i Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and btate l of New York, and ALEXANDER ltUssELL of Union and State ofNew Jersey, both citizens of the United States, have invented a new and Improved Music-theet, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip- Our invention relates to music-sheets of the type used in piano-playing mechanism.

As ordinarily made a music-sheet consists of a length of paper provided with perforations variously arranged according to the notes to be sounded. in use the music-sheet is adapted to be moved over a series of pneumatic ducts in a so-called tracker-board, and said sheet serves as a' valve to progress ively uncover, by means of the perforations, certain of said ducts or combinations of said ducts, thereby pneumatically selecting the notes or chords which are to be struck by the mechanism.

One of the greatest difficulties attending the use of music-sheets made of paper as heretofore formed is their liability to contract or expand laterally under varying atmospheric conditions to such an extent that the perforations willnot properly track with their respective ducts in the tracker-board; and it is an object of our invention to provide a music-sheet made of paper or similar material which will properly track with a trackerboard regardless of hygroscopic changes of the atmosphere.

A practical embodiment of our invention is represented in the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, and which shows a fragment of our improved musicsheet. 1

We have discovered that paper expands or contracts under hygroscopic changes of the atmosphere in a direction transverse to the le th of the fibers of which it is composed. If t e fibers are uniformly distributed in all directions, contraction and expansion of the paper will be equal in all directions; but if .the mass of fibers have a general trend in any one direction contraction and expansion of the paper will be least in said direction and greatest at right angles thereto.

Music-sheets have heretofore been made of a paper having a decided grain or trend of fibers in one direction; but owing to convenience of manufacture said music-sheets have been formed with the grain of the paper coinciding in direction with the direction in which the music-sheets are adapted to travel over a tracker-board. As a consequence the greatest variations in the dimensions of said 1nusic-sheets take place at right angles tothe direction in which they are adapted to travel, and in use under certain hygroscopic conditions the perforations do not properly track with the ducts in the tracker-board.

it will be evident that the direction in which a music-sheet is adapted to travel over a tracker-board is determined entirely by the arrangement of the perforations therein, for in rendering or otherwise interpretin the music denoted by said perforations the interpretation'or reading must progress in a certain definite direction of the sheet, for in no other direction can it be interpreted to represent intelligible music such as will conform to the laws of harmony. While a sheet of paper per se cannot be said to have any definite direction, yet it is apparent that the perforations in this sheet of paper representing consecutive notes or chords of a musical composition must have a progressive arrangement in a certain definite direction, and this direction 1n the present specification and the appended claims we have termed the inter- I pretive direction of the perforations.

Our improved music-sheet ismade of a paper with the fibers having a general trend at right angles to theinterpretive direction of the perforations, thus reducing to a minimum the contraction and expansion laterally of the music-sheet or along the axis of the tracker-board.

Referring to the drawing, A designates a sheet of paper which is provided with a series of perforations B B. V

The arrow 0 indicates tlieinter'pretive direction of the perforations-that is, the direction in which the music-sheet is adapted to travel over a tracker-board.

D D represent the fibers of the paper A. It will be noted that said fibers have a trendat right angles to the interpretive direction of the perforations. Consequently under hygroscopic changes of the atmosphere the maximum contraction and expansion of the paper A will be in the direction of the arrow 0 and the minimum contraction and expansion of the paper A in the width of the m'usicsheet, or at right angles to thedirection of'said arrow.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. A music-sheet consisting of a web conperforations of different lengths for controlling the duration of difi'erent notes, lthemajority 'o'i said fibers being disposed in a general .di-

rection crossing the direction repres'entei by the lengths of said perforations. it J 3. A music-sheet consisting. mainly of fibers, the majority of which lie in a common direction, said music-sheet being provided with perforations representing successive notes and chords 0 a musical'composition, the direction in which the perforations follow one another in interpretation crossing said common direction in which sa'idfibers are disposed.

4. A music-sheet formed mainly of fibers and provided with perforations reKpr'esen" consecutive notes and chords of musica compositiom the majority of said fibers-havihg a common direction transverse "to the direction in which the perforations follow one another in interpretation.

' 5'. A music-sheet formed mainly of'fibers 'an'dprovided with music-controlling elements arranged in a definite succession, the majority of said fibers having a common direc tion transverse to the direction inwhich the music-controlling elements 'follow one an-f other in interpretation.

6. A music-sheet formed mainly of fibers music-controllingelements arranged m definite succession, the majority of said fibers bei so'dis osed relatively to said 'music-contgiling cements as to reduce to a the tendency to expansion and contraction of said sheet transversely to the direction in-which the musiccontrolling elements follow 'one another in interpretation. j

- In testimony whereof we have signed our names, tothis specification in the'preaenoe of two subscrib' witnesses.

JOHN WALKE R. ALEXA DER RUSSELL BOND.- Witnesses "JNo, Rrr'rER.

F. W, HANAFORD. 

